


(These Are) The Days Of Our Lives

by ThebanSacredBand



Category: SHAKESPEARE William - Works, Winter's Tale - Shakespeare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Don't copy to another site, Farce, Multi, Polyamory, Probably ooc, but I really don't care, this is Kenneth Branagh's fault, why you should talk to your children about things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21934426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThebanSacredBand/pseuds/ThebanSacredBand
Summary: Hermione and Leontes run into their old lover when they drop their daughter off at university
Relationships: Florizel/Perdita (Winter's Tale), Hermione/Leontes (Winter's Tale), Hermione/Leontes/Polixenes
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	(These Are) The Days Of Our Lives

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nemainofthewater](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemainofthewater/gifts).



> Merry Christmas Nemainofthewater! I now we're not technically doing Christmas gifts but I finished it today and I wrote it as a gift anyway.
> 
> For anyone else reading, a little context: We've only seen Winter's Tale once, and it was KenBran's version, and this concept was the result of that.

“She’ll be fine, Leontes,” says Hermione as the lift goes down. Today was their daughter’s first day at university, and they had helped Perdita unpack her stuff into her new room before she had got frustrated with their worried hovering, and told them in no uncertain terms that it was time for them to go so she could get to know her new flatmates.

It was a reasonable reaction. They couldn’t stay there forever. But of course they are worried about her. It is the first time in a long time it will be just the two of them.

“I know, I know,” her husband replies, muffled as he had buried his head in his wife’s hair as soon as Perdita was out of sight. “But that’s our _baby_ , Hermione. Our little baby. How is she so grown up?”

“That’s what tends to happen as time goes by, dear. You’re starting to wrinkle now yourself.”

Leontes gasps. It sounds like he is aiming at affronted, but the effect is ruined somewhat by the fact that he hasn’t moved and is breathing in more hair than air. “How could you betray me so, Hermione?” She chuckles to herself as he wraps his arms tighter around her. He always jokes about betrayal, as if they haven’t always shared.

The door pings. A glance shows that they haven’t reached the bottom yet. They pull apart slightly – their possibly-excessive PDA probably won’t be much appreciated by whoever is about to join them – but they leave their hands clasped.

“Going down?” says a voice. Hermione’s eyes widen, fixing on the man that had spoken. That voice is one that she has never been able to forget, brushing her every memory of her life up to the age of eighteen with a sad nostalgia for a boy once loved.

“Polixenes?” Her voice is quiet, as though making too much noise will reveal him to be a dream. He is older now, of course, with a beard streaked with grey. But there is no mistaking him. She pinches the back of her hand. It hurts. Polixenes is still there, frozen in the doorway, stopping the lift from closing as his eyes dart between his childhood friends. His childhood lovers.

The lift gives an angry beep, and Polixenes jolts, stepping inside and finally allowing it to move. He is close, so close. Close enough for Hermione to reach out and touch. To hold him to her and never let him go again.

She doesn’t, of course. They don’t really _know_ him anymore. Maybe he doesn’t want to have anything to do with them. She doesn’t want to think about that possibility.

“Polixenes.” Echoes Leontes, and Hermione knows her husband well enough to read every emotion written in that one word: shock, and disbelief, and hope, so much hope. “How are you?”

“I’m. I’m well. And you?” Polixenes’ voice is shaking a little. She can only hope it’s a good thing. It shook that way when he told them he had a scholarship to study in a German university. That was the last time they had seen him.

“Come out to dinner with us. For old time’s sakes.” Leontes doesn’t answer the question. Hermione smiles to herself. That’s exactly what she had wanted to ask.

Polixenes’ eyes dart between them, focusing on their clasped hands. Their _rings_. So much has changed since they last saw him. So much has stayed the same. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“No!” Hermione blurts out, louder than she intends to. “I mean, you won’t be intruding. We’d love to hear how you’ve been. We’ve missed you.”

She can see the very moment his will breaks, his eyes starting to brim with tears. “I’ve missed you both too.”

If someone had told Polixenes a year ago that he would find his childhood sweethearts again, and they would want to spend time with him as if he had never been away, he would have laughed in their face and told them not to be so cruel.

But here he is, wedged into a booth with Leontes pressed against his side and Hermione playing with his hand across the table.

It has been five months since Florizel started university, since he had dropped off his son and rediscovered the two people he had loved since he was barely old enough to know what the word meant.

He had loved Camillo, too, of course he had; he wouldn’t have married him otherwise. They had eventually fallen out of love, the way people sometimes do, but they are still good friends. And if he hadn’t have loved Camillo, they wouldn’t have had a son together. Florizel was his pride and joy. He wouldn’t trade him for the world.

And now, through some stroke of chance at choosing a certain accommodation at a certain university, he had brought the loves of his life back to him.

They sit and talk long after their food has been eaten and their plates cleared away. They’re all three of them trying to catch up on so much missed time. He’s telling them stories about his son and his ex-husband, and hearing their stories in return. Stories about their daughter, stories about their relationship, stories about their time at university that have him pressing his face into Leontes shoulder to suppress his laughs.

He feels Leontes tense up a little beneath his touch, and hears Hermione suck in a quiet breath. He pulls away, face burning. He shouldn’t, he shouldn’t have thought… He _left_ them, after all. He can’t just pretend that the past almost thirty years never happened.

But then Leontes wraps an arm around his shoulder, drawing him back in, and Hermione says “Come home with us tonight?”, and Polixenes finally feels _whole_ again after so long.

He wakes up in the morning with Leontes’ arms wrapped around him and Hermione’s head pillowed on his chest, and he feels like his heart will _burst_.

Hemione wakes up first, reaching up to press lazy kisses against his lips, and Leontes’ grip tightens as Polixenes tries to chase after her.

He cannot help but ask: “Is this… Are we…?”

They both answer “yes” at the same time.

It takes the three of them a long time to get out of bed.

Leontes is only sort-of worried about how their daughter is going to take the idea of Hermione and him having a boyfriend. He knows she’s a hip, open young woman who accepts love in all its forms. It’s just a little bit different when it’s your own parents.

He doesn’t think they ever even mentioned knowing Polixenes to her, even when he was just a sad memory who they would never meet again. They definitely haven’t mentioned him to her since meeting him again (in her own accommodation block!), which they probably should have, but isn’t exactly the easiest thing to broach over the phone.

(Hello dear! How’s Uni going? Uh huh? Just so you know, me and your mother have found our boyfriend from when we were teenagers and we’re dating him again. You’ll probably meet him over the summer. Ok love you bye!)

In any case, a very un-ideal time for her to find this out would be when said boyfriend is sitting shirtless in their kitchen eating a late breakfast after a lazy morning involving the three of them in bed.

Unfortunately, the key sounding in the lock when all the other people who own a key to the house are _in_ the house gives way to the realisation that that is exactly how Perdita is going to find out about Polixenes.

Polixenes himself is frozen, a spoonful of cereal halfway between the bowl and his mouth, his eyes widening as he looked towards the front of the house, and then between Leontes and Hermione and finally to the back door.

“You’re not leaving out the back,” says Hermione, and Leontes blinks. He hadn’t realised that that was something that was even being considered. It really was like Hermione could read minds sometimes. “You should maybe put on a shirt though.”

She looks straight at Leontes. He has no idea what she means. There isn’t time to get upstairs to grab one for him, especially as the staircase is in the direction of the door. There’s no way he would be back with a shirt for Polixenes before Perdita gets in. She raises her eyebrows at him, and plucks at the sleeves of her pyjama top, which she had had the forethought to put back on. Thinking about it, Leontes had pulled on a dressing gown too; it was just Polixenes who was shirtless.

“Hi mum! Hi dad!” Now there definitely isn’t time to go anywhere at all.

“Oh for- just give him your dressing gown for goodness sake!” Hermione hisses. Oooooh. _That’s_ what she means. He quickly shrugs it off, handing it to Polixenes, who pulls it round himself. Now Leontes is shirtless, which is still rather damning, but much less awkward for Polixenes. Hermione really does have some of the best ideas.

“Hi sweetheart!” Hermione calls, making her way towards the door. “What are you doing back?”

Perdita is in the doorway before Hermione gets there, and swiftly pulls her mum into a hug. Leontes’ heart melts a little at the sight of his two girls together. She pulls away and raises an eyebrow at Leontes, probably at least partially related to the fact that he’s shirtless.

“I just wanted to surprise you guys, that’s all, and introduce you to my boyfrie-” she trails off, her brow furrowing. Leontes follows her line of sight to Polixenes, who still has half a bowl of cereal in front of him and is turning progressively redder. He gives a little wave and looks like he wants the earth to swallow him whole. “Who’re you?”

“Oh,” says Hermione (and Leontes is definitely glad she decided to pick up this one), “this is-”

“Dad?” comes a new voice behind Perdita, and a handsome young man whom Leontes has never seen before is standing by the door, also looking straight at Polixenes.

“Oh _no_ ,” says Polixenes.

Leontes bursts out laughing. Everyone is staring at him now, with looks of resignation (Polixenes; Perdita), confusion (Perdita’s boyfriend, who must be Polixenes’ Florizel), or mild disapproval (Hermione). Maybe it’s not funny. In fact, he probably should find it at least vaguely traumatic to be walked in on by his daughter and then to find out she’s dating his own boyfriend’s son. Instead, he’s mildly hysterical, doubling over as his stomach starts to hurt.

Eventually he calms down, aided largely by his wife’s icy glare. He coughs a few times, wiping stray tears from the corners of his eyes.

“Right. Sorry about that. Hi, Florizel, it’s nice to finally meet you, we’ve heard a lot about you.”

Florizel merely blinks at him. Then at Polixenes, and then Hermione. Finally he turns to Perdita.

“You know when you said meeting your parents would be distinctly _less_ weird than when we met my dad last week and discovered he was dating your parent’s therapist?” He gestures vaguely at the three of them, and Perdita sighs dramatically, burying her head in her boyfriend’s shoulder. (Leontes has no idea where she got that habit from.)

Leontes does feel a bit bad for them. He’s never met Camillo, but Paulina can be a bit…. _much_ … in social settings.

Suddenly, it’s like the actualities of the morning have hit him. “What do you _mean_ you got a boyfriend and you didn’t tell us!” he exclaims. That’s just! His own daughter, not telling him about something so important. How could she!

Perdita fixes him with a stare that she definitely picked up from Hermione. A glance at his wife shows him an almost carbon-copy glare. Polixenes has his head in his hands. Why are… ah. Yes. That was a little bit hypocritical. And by a bit hypocritical he means a lot hypocritical.

Ah well at least he’s aware of his flaws. Paulina would be proud of him. His therapist who is also his boyfriend’s ex-husband’s girlfriend and also his daughter’s boyfriend’s father’s girlfriend.

Oh dear.

He pulls out a chair, flops down on it like a rag doll. Fortunately Hermione, as ever, saves the day.

“Right, why don’t I put the kettle on. It seems like we’ve got a lot to talk about.”


End file.
